The Academy of Food and Wine Service is running a regular series catching up with the stars of BBC2’s Michel Roux’s Service. We caught up with Nicky Bedson, 24, who is working at two bars in Crawley in Sussex and aims to have her own business…
I’d been travelling for a year in 2009 before applying for the show. Perhaps conscious that I’d like to do so again, I wasn’t ready to fully commit to a scholarship at the time, which I think came across on screen.
As we weren’t paid during filming for Michel Roux’s Service I was skint by the time it finished last July. I was offered a role behind the bar at Babylon but couldn’t afford to move to London. Nick Scade, the chairman of the Academy, very kindly arranged an interview for the Royal Garden hotel in Kensington as they had staff accommodation. But the role was waitressing and I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do – the show has taught me the importance of doing something you’re passionate about.
To this end, I’m currently working at two bars (Octopvs and Ja Ja Bar) in Crawley where I live with my aunt. The days are long (16 hours working) but it’s helping me sort my finances and I’m getting experience in making, serving and flaring cocktails, which is what I need if I’m to realise my ambition of opening my own cocktail bar in London.
Working with people like Peter Avis (Babylon) has shown me that with the right direction and hard work you can achieve your goals.
I’d never made a cocktail before the show, as the pub I’d worked in at London Bridge wasn’t that sort of place. Not being a foodie, my experience on the show also made me realise that it was the cocktail side of the business that I have a passion for and not waitressing.
To that end I’ve been working at two bars in Crawley, Sussex, where I live with my aunt. The show really helped as I had no true customer service experience before and now I’m learning how to make, serve and flair cocktails.
I have a potential business partner (a colleague) and the start of a business plan, and although it’ll be years yet we aim to have a cocktail bar in London eventually – something high class but not snooty.
My time on Michel Roux’s Service really showed me that you can make a successful living doing something you’re passionate about and enjoy yourself at the same time. With the right direction you really can achieve great things within the hospitality industry. At the same time I found some of the extremes of luxury we experienced obscene. People that can spend £3,000 on a bottle of wine but wouldn’t necessarily think to say please or thank you… well, I definitely learnt to keep my emotions in check.
I’ll be taking a break from work this July to teach English in Nepal, before returning to continue working towards my own cocktail bar, which is thanks to my time on the show.
